Samsung makes marketing push for Galaxy Gear in wake of poor reviews

A few of the ads run by Samsung Friday. The South Korean giant took out 10 full-page ads in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal for its new Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

A few of the ads run by Samsung Friday. The South Korean giant took out 10 full-page ads in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal for its new Galaxy Gear smartwatch. (Salvador Rodriguez/Los Angeles Times)

Salvador RodriguezThis post has been updated. See the note below for details.

Samsung is fighting negative reviews of its new Galaxy Gear smartwatch the best way it knows how: massive amounts of marketing.

The South Korean tech giant ran 10 full-page ads -- yes, you read that right -- in the Friday editions of the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal, promoting the $299.99 Galaxy Gear and its companion smartphone, the new Galaxy Note 3.

[Updated 11:24 a.m. Oct. 4: Samsung said the ads also ran in USA Today. The company said it could not disclose how much it would be spending on its marketing for the Galaxy Gear and the Galaxy Note 3.]

The Galaxy Gear is a wristwatch with a touch screen that can be used to see incoming calls and text messages as well as run apps. The device can be used for voice calls, as a pedometer and it also has a small camera that can take square-shaped pictures and shoot short HD video clips.

The device is one of the first forays into the world of wearable gadgets for Samsung. Wearables are expected to be the next big thing in tech, with Google working on its Glass smartglasses and Apple rumored to be making a smartwatch of its own.

But being one of the first isn't always best. Reviews for the Galaxy Gear poured out earlier this week, and it wasn't good for Samsung. Most critics said the device had potential, but said consumers were better off waiting for the second generation of the device due to a variety of limitations and its steep price.

One of the limitations is how many gadgets the Galaxy Gear is compatible with. At launch, the smartwatch will only be able to work with the Galaxy Note 3 -- which means customers have to buy not one but two costly devices if they want to use Samsung's new gadget.

Samsung said more devices, like the popular Galaxy S 4, will receive updates that will make them compatible with the Galaxy Gear, but that hasn't happened yet.